Those who are wondering whether the Jays will be buyers or sellers come trade deadline time don’t have a much clearer picture after Alex Anthopoulos’ first significant mid-season deal. Anthopoulos sent Alex Gonzalez and a pair of minor leaguers, SS Tyler Pastornicky and P Tim Collins, to Atlanta in exchange for Yunel Escobar and left-handed reliever Jo-Jo Reyes.

The trade essentially boils down to whether this season has been a fluke for the two starting shortstops. Gonzalez is enjoying a career year offensively at 33 years of age in which he’s hit 17 home runs at the season’s halfway point after being signed by Toronto primarily for his defence. Escobar, meanwhile, is six years younger than Gonzalez but finds himself hitting just .238 in 75 games this season, 53 points off of his .291 career average.

If Escobar can regain his offensive game in switching leagues, he could prove a viable starter for Toronto and help mentor fellow Cuban shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria along the way to the majors. And if he can’t, it’s a relatively low-risk trade considering Gonzalez was never in the team’s future plans and his first half contributions were simply a bonus for a team not likely to re-sign him beyond this season. On the other hand, Escobar is under team control through 2013, offering the Jays a solid opportunity to see what he has to offer.

In Reyes, Toronto gets a reclamation project who has struggled in both starting and relief roles over four seasons with the Braves. His careers marks – 5-15 with a 6.40 ERA – won’t excite anyone, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is a hard-throwing 25-year old lefty. However, as part of the Jays’ newly pitching-rich farm system, he’ll need to fight for a permanent spot in the big club’s bullpen.

That farm system did lose one arm in the trade in 20-year old reliever Collins. While Pastornicky hasn’t wowed anyone at Class-A Dunedin and isn’t likely to be missed in Toronto, Collins had earned a following at Double-A New Hampshire and was turning heads in spite of – or maybe because of – his diminutive stature. The 5’7” (and that’s apparently being generous) lefty had a 2.51 ERA and nine saves in 35 appearances with the Fisher Cats to go along with an eye-opening 73 strikeouts in just 43.0 innings.

Whether the trade works out or not for the Blue Jays (and I think it was a terrific move), Anthopoulos should be credited for taking a low-cost, bargain bin free agent (Gonzalez signed for 2.75 million) and turning him into a young, talented shortstop who could be a Jays mainstay.

2 Comments

In response to “Jays, Braves Make Shortstop Swap”

I was flat out angered by this trade. When the Jays sign Gonzalez I wasn’t thrilled. I figured he was another Royce Clayton endeavour, but Alex went above and beyond, and was really starting to grow on me.

What was perhaps more maddening was trading away Tim Collins. It’s hard to find that kind of player with that kind of talent, let alone CANADIAN talent like himself. So what if he is only 5″5 (apparently the ocrrect height), the kid throws serious gas and it shows with his K/IP ratio. It drove me absolutely bonkers, I think it is the first time I have ever actually wanted to punch a GM in the face for making a poor trade.
Havn’t even had a chance to mention the return. Yunel Escobar, WTF 0 dingers this year and has behavioural issues of a two-year old. Finally, Jo Jo Reyes is not only a queststoionable propect, but has a name better suited for the cover of a rap or hip-hop label.

At the risk of sounding like a homer, I like this deal from Toronto’s perspective.

As I said above, Gonzalez did more for the Jays than any fan could have expected in his half-season here, but he wasn’t going to be a major factor in the team getting back to contender status. If Escobar can get his bat going again, he could play a role on an improved Jays club, or be a key trade piece.

No arguments on Reyes (really, just a throw-in) but I do think these “character issues” of Escobar are a bit overblown. Ironically, Gonzalez has also been labled a headcase during his career, not something any Jays fan would vouch for.

Finally, Collins is definitely the biggest (no pun intended) loss here, but hardly a cause for outrage. For one thing, I don’t think he’s Canadian (he was born in Worchester, Mass… not that it changes his value as a player). I also don’t see him as a blue chip prospect, mainly due to his size. There’s a reason Toronto managed to sign him as an undrafted free agent.